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Games Workshop’s German HQ Closing

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Games Workshop Germany

Getting information on Games Workshops internal workings is usually even more difficult than trying to anticipate their closely guarded release plans.

Nevertheless, it seems clear that Games Workshop is implementing some major changes, and a large part of the motivation for these changes are likely the sub-optimal financial results, which Games Workshop reported on earlier this week.

On the hobby/customer side of things, some of these changes surely include the overhaul of the White Dwarf.

On the organization/business side of things, it seems that Games Workshop is cutting one (or more?) of their regional HQ’s, most notably Germany, as reported by Germany’s wargaming blog Brückenkopf-Online.com.

#1 – GW Germany HQ Rumours via Brückenkopf!

Wie wir so eben erfahren haben, wird Games Workshop Deutschland geschlossen und die Leitung der deutschen Ladenlokale nach England verlagert.

We have been informed that Games Workshop Germany will be closed. Management of the German stores will be moved to the UK.

Von dieser Maßnahme sind außerdem Games Workshop Frankreich und USA betroffen. Nach unserer Quelle wurden als Folge auch die Arbeitsverhältnisse der Mitarbeiter in den HQs aufgelöst, wobei manchen wohl die Wahl gegegeben wurde nach UK umzuziehen oder zu kündigen.

According to our soruces, these changes will also affect Games Workshop France and U.S.A.. Employees in these locations have been let go, though some seem to have been given the choice to relocate to the UK or resign.

Die Ladenkette wird unter die Leitung von Games Workshop UK in Nottingham unterstellt. Hier werden sich wohl in der nächsten Woche die neuen Vorgesetzten in den Läden melden, da diese aktuell ohne Ansprechpartner sind.

The retail chain will be managed directly from Games Workshop UK in Nottingham. The new supervisors will presumably make themselves know to the store managers, which are currently lacking a go-to person.

Diese Änderung wurde anscheinend schon am 16. Januar 2014, zeitgleich mit der Bekanntgabe der Ergebnisse des Halbjahresberichtes umgesetzt.

These changes seem to have come into effect on January 16th, 2014, the same date the half-year financial report was published.

There are also a few added notes by the Brückenkopf-Online team saying that this change does (at the moment) not affect the German Games Workshop stores themselves.

Their source (obviously) wants to remain anonymous.

#2 – Thoughts?

I apologize if my blog is turning into industry news, and not a wargaming hobby blog, this weekend. As I was myself born on the continent (and often read Brückenkopf-Online… great guys!), I had to share this one.

The information that is there is, obviously, limited, and I cannot vouch for the veracity of the bits we have.

That said, the caveats noted above, do you think these changes will/could help get Games Workshop back on track?

I hear very few complaints about Games Workshop’s logistic side of the business (though their recent “one-man-stores”, which receive a lot of praise in the half-year financial-report, aren’t the “hobby-centers” they used to be).

I hope Games Workshop (also) realized that they need to look for changes in their products as much as in how they ship and sell the product to their customers to move past the current blues… in my humble opinion only, of course.

Z.

Image: GW at the Spiel in Essen a few years ago, by nOwak
Zweischneid

Zweischneid

I am Zweischneid. Wargame Addict. Hopeless painter and founder of Pins of War. I hope you enjoyed this article. Don't forget to share your favourite miniature pictures and wargaming videos at www.pinsofwar.net.
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  • Bobthemim

    I do hope this isn’t the end of GW as a company as they implode.

    But they really did deserve it, the way they have been shafting customers the last 5 years.. or longer for AUS and other places around the world

  • Jenevieve DeFer

    This is a sign that GW’s management is looking for easy fixes to their financial problems. Companies doing this keep firing personnel to hide how bad the business is really doing (which you can see on the Financials). So either the ownership is looking to suck all value out of the company and into their own pockets or they are too stupid to see that they have priced themselves out of the market. With competition from many other games, they just can’t assume the Monopoly position of super high prices. Heck, there are 3-4 different companies that make SciFi Power Armor and Vehicle Models that are compatable with 40k. GW is getting their tails handed to them in the market place and they are just doing the same thing. Companies this stupid deserve to die.

    • http://pinsofwar.net/ Zweischneid

      Well, they did wait with the changes until after they released the numbers. They didn’t fire those people 3 months ago to pretty up the numbers.

      It seems a bit the inverse. They are putting the bad numbers up front to “justify” these cuts?

      • Michael Bartels

        Yeah. If GW knows one thing, it’s their KPIs. And something like what we witness now is not a spontaneous reaction. This has been planned for a while now.

        And I am not even saying that this is not a valid response to declining sales. It’s just the wrong response. And that’s because GW’s top management does NOT understand what’s going on and what would be possible. Bubble boys.

        If you want to spice it up with a rumor, I would throw the idea out there that Mark Wells did not want to go this route and said ‘Frak that, I’m outta here’.

  • Michael Bartels

    It’s so sad. And unnecessary, really. But what do you expect from a Management Board that does not even play with its own products…

    Sadly, more and more of these rumors emerge to be true. I am just off some Skype and FB chats with what now are ex-employees of HQs from not just one country. :(

    http://masterminis.blogspot.de/2014/01/the-future-of-games-workshop-part9.html

    • http://pinsofwar.net/ Zweischneid

      Well, my condolences to the people who lost a job ;(

    • http://pinsofwar.net/ Zweischneid

      Good article, though the added mix of Natfka-lunacy is a bit cringe worthy.

      - Wood Elves or Khemri aren’t going anywhere.

      - Finecast isn’t going anywhere. The only other substitute for the old spincaster moulds is metal. GW is not gonna make expensive new pressure-molds for FW-resin for the current Finecast range. Is “all-plastic” the long-term goal? Probably (and always was, even in “metal-times”, but it’s gonna take years).

      - The “all GW stores close” rumour was lifted by Natfka from BoW (without attribution). Poster already said he misread the GW-German-HQ stuff.

      I enjoy Natfka and all, but you shouldn’t “believe” the stuff you read there, usually.

      Anyhow, still cannnot comment on your site. WordPress-login seems to fail me.